


Never A Bride

by WishUponADragon



Series: Worlds Collide [2]
Category: Alex Rider - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Insecurity, Wedding (not theirs though)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:55:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27977712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WishUponADragon/pseuds/WishUponADragon
Summary: On the nature of relationships and unflattering dresses.
Relationships: Yassen Gregorovich/ Jack Starbright
Series: Worlds Collide [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2049111
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	Never A Bride

The dress was ugly. Alex had been too polite- too British- to say so, and Jack had been too eager to support her friend to object. But it was ugly. 

Marigold, Alice had told her, it’ll be like a beautiful field of flowers! Jack held the mustard yellow dress in front of herself again, considering the tassels and the formfitting cut. Yup. Just like a flower. She sighed and put the dress away. The wedding wasn’t until that night, and she could put up with a few hours of looking ridiculous for one of the few friends she’d made since leaving the States. 

At least she didn’t have to worry about Alex while she was out with her friend, the teen was home safe, and spending the night at Tom’s place so he could try to cram weeks worth of schooling into the few days before his math test. Jack had called his teacher to ask if he could take it later, but had been rudely scolded for not keeping him up to date while he’d been sick. If only.

Jack rifled through the fridge for leftovers, like hell was she about to trust Alice’s taste in caterers. She had to admit she’d been getting a little too used to the amazing culinary feats achieved by her- well, what exactly was he? 

_ On-again-off-again _ was too casual for whatever sort of relationship they had, though it fit the amount of time he spent around. She was a little afraid to ask what he got up to when he wasn’t with her, but she believed he’d tell her if it was important to her or Alex. Maybe that was a bit naive, but nothing bad had happened to them so far. 

_ Boyfriend _ felt so childish, though it described how she felt around him fine. The butterflies in her stomach hadn’t gotten the message that she was a grown adult now, and no longer needed their input. Besides, to be dating someone she would have needed to talk to him about it, and they didn’t really talk about how they felt about each other. No, he definitely was not her boyfriend. 

_ Hookup _ was absolutely not it. She wasn’t even sure that Yassen did that. Anyways, he’d made a habit of staying in Ian’s old room or on the couch when he was over.

_ Friend _ ... well. Maybe? Jack usually reserved the word for people she could take to the mall, but come to think of it she hadn’t tried that yet. Though something a lot deeper in her than the butterflies protested vehemently, and she couldn’t quite accept that term either. 

So he was her something. Jack tried to convince herself it was fine she didn’t know where they stood while she watched the chicken alfredo spin in the microwave. There was nothing wrong with just being something. Nothing, except that maybe she wanted to be something more than something.

She ate quickly and got dressed. Maybe the extra time to spend on her makeup and hair would make her feel less self conscious about the bridesmaid dress. 

Of course, makeup was a somewhat delicate delima in this case. If she went overboard, she might upset Alice by taking away some of her attention. On the other hand, she had her own pride to consider. If she was going to have to wear a dress that could have come from a skinned muppet, she was going to make sure she was beautiful while she wore it. 

Jack might have been concentrating a bit too hard, because she didn’t notice the man standing in the bathroom door until he interrupted the third time she was readjusting the gold hair clip. “Would you like some help with that?”

She swore and slammed her hand down on the counter. “Oh my god, Yassen! How long have you been standing there?”

He grinned at her in the mirror. Bastard probably thought he was clever. “A while.” He stepped forward and took the clip from her hand. “Going somewhere?”

“A wedding,” she sighed, tilting her head so he could better get at the place she’d been trying to attach it. 

He obliged, placing it gently in her hair and smoothing out the parts around it. “Oh? You didn’t tell me you were getting married.”

She rolled her eyes. “It’s my friend’s wedding. I’m her bridesmaid, which is why...” She gestured to the dress in explanation. 

“Well, that makes much more sense. I was worried you’d picked it out yourself.” He was teasing her. Jack hadn’t realized he’d had a sense of humor. 

“Okay, I know I can’t cook, but my fashion sense doesn’t completely suck.” 

He nodded. “Of course. It must have been very important to your friend to make sure you did not have a pretty dress. You would have easily upstaged her.”

Jack poked him lightly in the side. “Okay, easy on the flattery, there. So, what are you doing tonight?”

He cocked his head at her and she already knew what he would say. “Going to a wedding. If you wouldn’t mind having a date?”

A date. Okay. That... that was something. Jack nodded tersely. “That’s fine. I would love to have you come along.” 

Part of being an assassin must have been the ability to change quickly, because Yassen was ready to leave with her in under five minutes and cleaned up very well. She almost wouldn’t have believed he was the same man she’d caught breaking into her house. 

She took his hand and let him lead her down the stairs and to the car. She wondered whether he needed to be told where the wedding was or whether he’d found out long before surprising her. She decided to tell him where to drive anyways. 

* * *

  
  


The wedding was long and boring, and Jack’s feet hurt by the end. She was more than happy to escape to the car and take the heels off, and it also afforded an escape from the stares and whispers pointed in their direction. She really should have known better than to show up somewhere with him, people would talk. 

“Catching the bouquet is good luck, isn’t it?”

Jack sighed and tossed the aforementioned bouquet in the backseat. “It means you’ll get married next. It’s an old wives’ tale.”

She could feel him smirking at her without looking up. “It seems like the people here believe in it.”

Jack bit back a curse. If this was seriously how he was going to propose... “Do you want to tell me something?”

“No.” Bastard. She wished he’d stop laughing. He wasn’t actually laughing, but she could hear it in his voice. 

She leaned back in the seat. “Can we go home? I’d really like to get out of this.” 

Her Honda somehow felt like a Ferrari with him at the wheel. Jack shook her head. She had to cut back on the Bond movies. They weren’t even a little like the real deal. 

A thought occurred to her and was past her lips before she could stop it. “This isn’t something we could ever have, is it?” 

He didn’t answer, but she saw the tilt of his head as his attention shifted towards her, waiting for her to go on. “A wedding. That’s too much noise for you, too much attention?”

“Assassins don’t do weddings.”

“Even former assassins?”

“Even former.”

Jack took the clip out her hair and twirled it between her fingers. “That’s alright, I guess. Having a date’s not so bad.”

“I could call you my wife if it would make you feel better?”

Jack rolled her eyes and laughed. 


End file.
